On a manufacturing line of personal computers (hereinafter “PCs”), for example, file servers and PCs are connected with a switch so that data needed for individual PCs, such as an operating system (OS), is downloaded to the PCs from a file server at a time.
When requests for file downloading to multiple clients are concentrated on a particular file server, the performance of the file server or that of a network, such as Ethernet (registered trademark), can cause a bottleneck. The bottleneck lowers data transfer efficiency, leading to less efficient performance of the entire network. File server performance depends on specifications of hardware, such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a memory, and an HDD (Hard Disc Drive), for example.